Robocalls Scandal: Poll Finds Tory Support Unchanged Despite A Plurality Of Canadians Blaming Tories

The Huffington Post Canada   Posted: 03/ 9/2012 5:40 am

Robocalls Scandal Poll Forum
Though almost four out of every five Canadians are aware of the “robocall” allegations and a plurality blame the Conservatives, support for Stephen Harper’s party remains unchanged. (CP/Alamy)

Though almost four out of every five Canadians are aware of the “robocall” allegations and a plurality blame the Conservatives, support for Stephen Harper’s party remains unchanged.

These are the conclusions of a new Forum Research poll, conducted March 2-3 surveying 1,675 Canadians. The survery has a margin of error of +/- 2.4 points, 19 times out of 20.

Conservative support stands at 37 per cent, up one point since Forum was last in the field on Feb. 6. They are trailed by the New Democrats, unchanged at 28 per cent, and the Liberals, who have dropped one point to 25 per cent.

This lack of volatility is surprising considering that 78 per cent of Canadians are aware of the allegations that so-called robocalls were used to mislead voters into going to incorrect or non-existent polling stations during the May 2011 federal election.

Automated telephone calls were relatively common in the last election. Fully 35 per cent of respondents said they received an automated call during the campaign, including 45 per cent of Ontarians.

Most of them, however, had nothing to do with polling stations. Parties legitimately use automated calls to get in contact with supporters, and polling firms (including Forum) use them as well. But nine per cent said that the calls were about polling stations, despite the fact that Elections Canada does not make any calls and told parties not to call their supporters about any polling location changes.

The survey reports that most of these robocalls correctly directed them to the right polling stations. But 22 per cent of those who got calls said they received incorrect information.

Caution must be taken when examining these numbers as they only represent two per cent of all respondents, or roughly 34 out of the 1,675 Canadians sampled for the poll. Two per cent of the 15 million Canadians who voted in May 2011 works out to 300,000 voters.

Liberal and NDP supporters were more likely to say they were given incorrect information, but the proportion is not significantly higher than the number of Conservative supporters who also say they received incorrect information.

So far, no proof has emerged directly linking the Conservative Party to these allegations. But the court of public opinion is quicker to jump to conclusions and 39 per cent of Canadians believe the Conservatives are responsible for the misleading robocalls. Another 17 per cent blame either the Liberals or the New Democrats.

This is coloured along partisan lines, however. While roughly 60 per cent of Liberal and NDP supporters believe the Conservatives are responsible, only 11 per cent of Tory supporters blame their own party. Instead, 32 per cent of them blame either the Liberals or NDP.

And when it comes to whether by-elections should be held in ridings where these allegations might be proven, 75 per cent of NDP and Liberal supporters think the votes needs to be re-held, compared to only 22 per cent of Tory supporters.

Without a smoking gun, it seems Conservative voters are ready to believe that this is just a smear campaign against the governing party.

The level of partisanship in the House of Commons and the cacophony of confusing and contradictory information (and misinformation) appears to be giving the Conservatives immunity. But if a smoking gun is finally discovered, there is no telling what the fallout might be.

Éric Grenier taps The Pulse of federal and regional politics for Huffington Post Canada readers on most Tuesdays and Fridays. Grenier is the author of ThreeHundredEight.com, covering Canadian politics, polls, and electoral projections.

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Though almost four out of every five Canadians are aware of the “robocall” allegations and a plurality blame the Conservatives, support for Stephen Harper’s party remains unchanged. These are...
Though almost four out of every five Canadians are aware of the “robocall” allegations and a plurality blame the Conservatives, support for Stephen Harper’s party remains unchanged. These are...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Frings
Summer! Summer!! Summer! Summer!! Summer! Summer!!
07:42 AM on 03/27/2012
Sorry - there is no way Canadians are dumb enough to buy into these figures!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
robertmiller252
12:22 PM on 03/13/2012
Well, well, well! The left-wing attack dogs have suddenly become very silent since Elections Canada announced that more than half of all the calls or contacts to them have originated through special interest group websites.

Where is your rage and anger now?
01:53 PM on 03/15/2012
Hey robertmiller252, they're going to be even more silent when they hear that they're beloved NDP is involved in Elections fraud in Scarborough. Huffington Post has article on site.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
robertmiller252
06:44 PM on 03/12/2012
Elections Canada stated today that more than half of the 31,000 complaints listed with them were generated through printed petitions on Special Interest Internet sites. Is this also democracy at work?

So much for a people's protest.
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cheena1
myhuffpost
04:44 PM on 03/12/2012
Sorry - there is no way Canadians are dumb enough to buy into these figures! Either this poll has been skewed or the ones polled were Cons ........ don't be fooled by this folks - just another ploy in the long list of deceptive, lying, cheating, illegal things the Cons are capable of!

Support for Cons not changed??? O Please, gimme a break!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Marg Wood
Peace
10:45 AM on 04/19/2012
Where is the poll that said the cons and NDP were even?
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north of 60
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
09:11 PM on 03/10/2012
This is merely a diversion to keep the opposition distracted. It works quite effectively because they're so stupid.
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freeSpeakr
I stand on the shoulders of giants
08:54 AM on 03/12/2012
Nice.

Argumentum ad Hominem - the refuge of weak/specious/spurious/odious/ridiculous/deceptive/feigned/misleading/phony reasoning.
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Spanky McFarlane
ILLEGITIMUS NON CARBORUNDUM.
03:08 AM on 03/10/2012
Wow, now even Conservatives are asking questions .... Is it 'CYA' time or what?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/03/09/pol-fantino-election.html
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Carlyn Craig
Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks
11:38 PM on 03/09/2012
The headline that Tory support remains unchanged is rather misleading, even if true. It is, however, noteworthy that 32% of Tory voters blame the Liberals or NDP. Here's an explanation of where Tory voters are coming from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-mooney/want-to-understand-republ_b_1262542.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=1449194,b=facebook

And here's a quote Stephen Harper should live up to (feel free to cut and paste widely):

"At worst, he personally ordered it done and chose the people who executed the plan. At the very least, he fostered an attitude within the party [...], chose the managers of the people who committed these crimes and completely and utterly failed to exercise any oversight, supervision or leadership.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter where [his] actions or lack of them fall on that scale. He is the leader and a leader is responsible for the actions of the people he leads.

If he had a right or honourable bone in his body, he’d admit that and resign immediately."

-Stephen Harper during the Gomery investigation.”
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Another Pesky Canadian
Talk - action = 0
04:23 AM on 03/10/2012
Thanks for the Harper quote.

PRICELESS
11:17 AM on 03/11/2012
Accountability for thee but not for me.

/f
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Spanky McFarlane
ILLEGITIMUS NON CARBORUNDUM.
05:58 PM on 03/09/2012
Spanky's Go'in...

Victoria Rally Against Election Fraud Sunday 2 PM
2012 March 08
Sunday 11th of March – 2 PM
Centennial Square – March to the Legislature
04:14 PM on 03/09/2012
Another irrelevant article about an irrelevant poll.

It's blindingly clear that most Canadians do indeed harbor distrust and a massive disconnect with the Conservative government.

Should the Robocall scandal create a massive wave of social unrest and an investigation by an unbiased 3rd party? YES! Will it happen? NO! And that right there should tell you something about the true state of our political system and who is ultimately pulling the strings. People are indeed upset and in mass but that anger doesn't mean anything when the entire system is ultimately broken.

But by all means Conservatives, keep on pushing. We'll see what happens when Canadians are pushed to their limits.
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Add In Canadia
Egotism is a weakness
04:09 PM on 03/09/2012
The short and sweet of it is this:

1) We want facts. Faaaaaaacts. Yeah we're going to blame the Conservatives but we don't know how far to blame.

2) We need an alternative. Sorry but the NDP and Liberal parties aren't exactly a good place to switch a vote into at the current time. Both are virtually leaderless, and don't really stand for much right now.

I mean really looking in the situation what are people going to say? Okay so the Tories played dirty, everyone plays dirty. They played dirtier than usual? Maybe? Who's fault was it? You don't know? What's the opposition going to do better? You don't know that either? Well gee thanks for a whole lot of nothing.

This has been a problem for the opposition for many years now. Whenever the Conservatives make a misstep (and boy have there been a few), the Liberals and the NDP have never been able to capitalize on it. Well... maybe they have been able to capitalize on it, but the underlying problem was they didn't give people a reason to vote for the Liberals or the NDP past "The Conservatives are evil." I mean personally I have more reason to vote Green than for the Liberals or the NDP.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
valar84
10:16 AM on 03/13/2012
Not everyone plays dirty, most people play fair. "But everyone else is doing it" doesn't work as an excuse for an 8 year old boy, why should it work as one for a political party that is governing an entire country?

What's the opposition going to do better? Do you mean in terms of policies or campaigning? In terms of policies, that's easy:
1- Not send people to jail for minor offenses like the Conservatives will do with mandatory minimum sentencing.
2- Not give large tax breaks to the richest and big companies while being in a deficit and cutting services.
3- Not sully Canada's good name in international politics with a war-obsessed foreign policy with unwavering and unquestioning support of Israel and the US.

In terms of campaigning, here's what they will do bettere: NOT MAKE LYING ROBOCALLS TO SUPPRESS VOTES! They've been (not) doing it for years already.

You are what is wrong with Canadian voters. Conservatives screw up all the time, they play dirty and betray Canadian democracy, you admit it but then you, withou a shred of evidence, claim the other parties are worse or just as bad.
02:40 PM on 03/22/2012
What we need is a better government system. All the parties are chasing power. You cannot trust any of the politicians because the special interests behind each party dictate their positions. We have very dysfunctional accountability to us, the citizens, because the system is dysfunctional. Changing parties at elections does not fix what is fundamentally not working.
04:08 PM on 03/09/2012
Just wait once some tangible evidence gets produced that links the tories support will plummet! Just a matter of time to from what I hear from my friends at Torstar
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north of 60
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
04:05 PM on 03/09/2012
Yes, many people are not happy with everything the Conservative government does, but they are willing to put up with it because any alternatives are much worse.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
djelimon17
what's this thing for?
06:30 PM on 03/09/2012
ANY alternative? Are you speaking hypothetically? Surely not!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ParliamentHillCatMP
12:41 PM on 03/10/2012
Oh really...The Liberals have their closets full of skeletons..but I'd rather them.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Taylor Jay
I don't align myself with any political party.
03:14 PM on 03/09/2012
and I will not consider if a cheating government deserves its majority if the approval polls are still up,

remember stephen harper chooses who he speaks with at press conferences, he chooses the reporters he is willing to talk to. if they do not support the conservative ideology its pretty tough to even talk to Stephen Harper so of course he is manipulating these polls aswell. A real determination would be holding an election in two weeks and letting all of us outraged canadians do the campaigning. I guarantee you lose your majority Mr harper.

This isn't Soviet Russia, People can still have access to the truth! your bill c-30 has not gone through yet Mr Harper
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Taylor Jay
I don't align myself with any political party.
03:09 PM on 03/09/2012
it doesn't matter what the conservatives do when they have attacked & dismantled the opposition parties, sure they are running Canada into the ground but we really cant put a face on the NDP after jack laytons death. Its funny that if he was still around i would expect the conservative government to be paying more dearly for this injustice. funny how timely his death was for Stephen Harpers agenda. I dont trust you harper! you need to prove your innocence or hopefully cancer takes u away from us in 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Taylor Jay
I don't align myself with any political party.
03:04 PM on 03/09/2012
How come all these polls make the conservative's come out in a bright light even though they dont have more than 36% approval rating?? seems like a inside job once again Canadians minds are being stiffled by the garbage that is being put infront of them to read & not doing any information themselves
Jack Canuckski
Canadian Observer of the passing scene
01:04 AM on 03/10/2012
Its because in Canada, you can claim enough seats in parliament to have a majority government with the consent, nationally, of just 39% of the voters, so 36% is significant chunk of the votes needed to sustain a majority for Stephen Harper..
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Skookum1
truth can't be bought, but lies sure can be sold..
09:29 AM on 03/10/2012
It's still not enough to GET a majority; Harper got his majority by 39.6% - 39.8%? - not by 32 % or 36% etc, and this poll as many have noted shows his support in Ontario is nowhere near it was, meaning that despite a lead in the polls he might not even have gotten a MINORITY government.

This article is a sell-job and it should have changed headlines quite a while ago instead of being used to sell the idea that Canadians are OK with the Tory robocalls because the "approval" rating for Stevie hasn't dropped. Oh, but it has - but you'd never know that from that headline would you?